ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has reported the 24th polio case of the year as the country grapples with a poliovirus outbreak that is threatening children’s wellbeing and has prompted urgent appeals from high-level health authorities for parents and caregivers to ensure vaccination of all children in their care.
The latest child to be affected by this paralytic disease is a 29-month-old boy in Hyderabad district of Sindh province, the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health notified on Friday.
This is the second polio case to be reported from Hyderabad where a case was earlier reported in August. Pakistan has now reported 24 polio cases in 2024 out of which 15 from Balochistan, five from Sindh, two from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
Expressing sadness at the increasing number of paralytic polio cases, Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication Ms Ayesha Raza Farooq has called on parents and communities to fulfil their duty of care and make sure that polio vaccination is given as a priority for children.
“Polio has no cure, yet it is entirely preventable with the help of an easily accessible vaccine that the government provides to families at their doorsteps,” she said. “As parents, grandparents, guardians and communities, we have a moral and religious responsibility towards our children to ensure that they have every opportunity to live their life in the best of health.”
She added: “Poliovirus will not discriminate. It will attack any vulnerable child it finds anywhere. We must urgently ensure that every child under our care is repeatedly receiving the polio vaccine and has received all doses of routine immunization so that they are strong enough to fight off polio.”
The Pakistan Polio Programme is implementing a comprehensive roadmap to stem the spread of the virus and interrupt its transmission by mid-2025.
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This roadmap, made in consultation with all provinces, is focused on ensuring access to every child in polio high risk areas, plugging operational gaps, building community trust through open communication and polio vaccination and integrated health service delivery, mapping and vaccinating all mobile and migrant populations, and strengthening management and oversight to improve all aspects of polio eradication activities.
